The return
by dementedducky
Summary: Just a little Stendan one shot


Ste walks around the village. He hasn't felt the same since the love of his life was sent to prison. The cruellest part was this time he was fully innocent. He can't believe it's been 10 years since he was sent away. He's coping but a part of him is missing. It hurts everyday no matter how he tries to ignore it or fill the void in his heart. He waited for a year before dating again (the fling with George was nothing but a mistake. He was depressed, drunk and needed Brendan more than anything in the world) after 3 years of on and off relationships he decided that being alone and focusing on his kids was more important. Leah and Lucas are the only thing that kept him going in his darkest times.

Chez chez was sold soon after Brendan was sent away and turned into a beauty parlour. His deli was still going strong and there was talk about opening a new franchise in London and Manchester. However it was no longer named Carter & Hay as Doug packed it in long ago and gave it over to Ste to look after. He decided to rename it Hay & Brady to show he still loved Brendan and thought about him every day. He always wrote Brendan letters but very rarely got any in return. He always thought that maybe you couldn't send letters from prison, maybe they got lost in the post or whatever. He still wrote to Brendan at least once a week.

Ste arrives at Hay & Brady's deli and remembers the time they baked bread, just before everything went so horribly wrong. He sees a reflection in the window. It can't be! He can see Brendan standing behind him, he's muscled up more but doesn't look like he's aged in the slightest but he's got a lot hairier. He closes his eyes and shakes his head. This happened to him a lot for the first few years. He always thinks he can see Brendan especially in his most wistful moments. He opens his eyes but to his surprise the reflection is still showing Brendan, only now he's smiling. He puts his hand against the window and feels stupid. Of course this is just him imagining it.

"Aren't ye gonna hug me Steven, or have ye found another fella?"

Ste's eyes widen. That accent sounded so clear. He could never forget the way Brendan spoke. That thick gorgeous accent. He looks in the window another second before turning around and sure enough the real Brendan Brady is standing there wearing the same clothes as the day he left. Only now they're much tighter as he's clearly been working out.

Brendan smiles like he's reading his mind. "Not much else to do in prison Steven."

Ste finally realises that he's not having some sort of breakdown and runs into Brendan's arms. He kisses him repeatedly and rapidly. "I have missed you so much!"

Brendan grabs him in and kisses him slow and deep. It feels so good, so natural and it's almost like he was never gone.

"Why didn't you reply to my letters?" Ste quizzes when he can finally bear to break himself away from Brendan.

"Oh Steven, I read every single letter you ever gave me and I kept them all under my bed. I wrote you a letter to every single one you wrote me but I couldn't bring myself to send them to you."

"Can I read them now?"

"I don't know Steven, I said a lot of gooey and emotional stuff and sometimes my letters got kinda dark"

"But you have them?"

"Yeah. Each and every letter you sent and every single one of my replies. Dated."

They head back to Ste's flat and sit cuddled up on the sofa. Brendan places two boxes on the table. One marked Steven's letters x and the other box was unmarked.

"If you really want to read them Steven then go on. I want to show you that I never stopped loving you and I never stopped thinking about you."

"I won't read them if you don't want me to"

"No. Read them. It's ok"

For the next few hours Brendan sits silently next to Ste as he reads each and every letter Brendan ever sent to him. It's a lot to read but Ste needs to know what was going on in Brendan's mind when he was gone and if he truly never stopped loving him. He read out some lines every so often.

'Steven, you are the only thing keeping going through this hell hole.'

'Steven, I love you so much it hurts'

'I'm sorry I had to leave you but I had to protect Cheryl, she's my baby sister'

'I long to hold you again'

'I'm sorry I let Seamus come between us'

These were just some of the lines repeated through out the letters. Brendan also often wrote about his love for Steven, asking about Leah and Lucas and how he loved them like his own. Sometimes when Brendan was having a bad day he wrote how he was spent hours on the bed crying just longing to hear Steven's voice or see him once more. Ste read this and cried.

"I didn't visit because you told me not to. You told me you wouldn't let me. I tried a few times but you sent me away. I thought you lost all love for me"

Brendan pulls Ste in for a massive cuddle. "I have never stopped loving you Steven and I didn't want to see you because I didn't want you to see me like that, I didn't want you to constantly be reminded of me because then you'd never move on. I always had someone looking out for you though"

Ste sniffles and wipes his eyes. "What?"

"Robert"

Robert was there for Ste days after Brendan was sent away. He was always giving Ste money, talking to him, saying things that he thought this Brendan would say if he could. He was amazing but had to leave a few days ago without a reason. Now it all became so clear to Ste.

"You? You sent him to me?"

"Yeah. I made sure you got all the help and money you ever needed so you never went without."

Ste cried a little harder when he realised that Brendan had never truly left him even though he wasn't actually there. He sent Robert to help Ste through the toughest times. It was Robert who snapped Ste out of his depression and got him back to work.

"Robert was always saying things to me. Things that he thought you'd say to me if you could. It always settled me because it sounded exactly like something you'd say."

"Why do you think that was?"

Ste puzzles over it for a while. "I don't know"

"I made him visit me three times a week at least to tell me how you doing and telling him the things to say to you. I needed you to be ok without me"

"So when Robert said you'd be upset I wanted to date again but you'd be happy I was moving on? That was you? And when I told him I broke up with these guys and missed you more than ever and he said you must miss me a lot more than I was missing you but not to worry because I was always in your heart.,, that was you too?"

Brendan nods slowly. "I couldn't have you seeing the state I was in but I couldn't leave you alone in this world. He's watched out for you for years now, he's watched you and the kids grow up like I longed to do myself. He brought me the occasional picture in too. The kids have grown up so much Steven and Robert says they're wonderful and polite and everything you ever could want in a child. He said I'd be so proud of them and I am. I'm proud of all of you"

Ste and Brendan sit there silently and just enjoy the smell and sight of each other. Brendan holds onto Ste's hand as if he's worried he'll be taken away from him again. About an hour later there's a knock at the door and two blonde, tall teens come through the door. The boy is taller than the girl and they're both winding each other up. They shove each other and pretend fight. Leah looks over to her dad and stops and screams. "Daddy Brendan!" She rushes over and hugs him tight. "I have missed you so much, we all have!"

Brendan stands up and Lucas is just a head shorter than Ste. "Too macho for a hug, son?"

Lucas considers it. Should he hug him? Punch him? (After all he did leave them for all this time) He pulls Brendan in for a big hug. "Dad!"

Of course as Leah and Lucas grew up they learnt what Brendan had done to save his sister and what his father had done to him and they also fully understood his relationship with Ste. The knew Brendan wasn't really their dad but in their eyes he was always a second dad to them. In a lot of Ste's letter for the first few years they were filled with pictures from the kids and as they got older Ste wrote non stop about them. They were so happy to have him back and Ste explained about the man the kids had been calling Uncle Robert for years.

"So it's like you never left us?" Lucas asks

"Just like I was here the whole time."

"Did you miss us?" Leah asks

Brendan pulls them both into a massive hug. "I missed you all every single minute of every single day"

"Why didn't you let us come and see you?" Lucas says

"Prison is no place for kids. It would've only upset you and your father even more at each visit"

The kids accept this fact and they all settle down to watch a DVD and eat pizza. They're not playing happy families. They really are happy. They missed Brendan so much while he was gone but now he's back it's almost as if he never left. Brendan finally being out of prison made the world feel right again in Ste's eyes. He looks at his happy family and the void in his heart has been filled after all these years. Brendan catches Ste's eyes and gives him that look. The one that says 'I am going to ruin you tonight boy' Ste shudders with pleasure at the thought of being fucked by Brendan after all these years and he can't wait. He's needed it for so long. He stopped having sexy about 6 years ago after failing several relationships because he loved Brendan too much.


End file.
